My academic success has been influenced by Girl Scouting and my family. Out of all of my extra-curricular activities, Girl Scouting is the one that I have been apart of for the longest. I started as a Daisy Girl Scout in kindergarten and continued on through the rest of elementary, middle, and high school. Even today, I am registered as a lifetime Girl Scout. I am proud of my vest that I have successfully filled up with various badges, awards, and patches. It is rare to meet other girls like myself who have been in scouts for more than just a few years. It's always the same story, "I was a Girl Scout! But then I quit because of..." I have seen girls come and go from my troop over the years, but the skills and knowledge I acquired in Girl Scouts will forever be a part of me. Scouting has enhanced my social and professional development skills much more than school alone could have ever done. Aside from scouts, my mother has been a large part of my success thanks to her unconditional love and support. She always has faith in me and will be the first person to give me a big hug or a high-five when I accomplish something great.
I consider myself a stereotypical Girl Scout because I went camping, sang songs around the campfire, and made hundreds of s'mores (I'd like to think I'm a s'mores expert by now). However, Girl Scouting has taught me much more than that. I learned how to be a leader within my community through service projects, education, and much more. Through helping my fellow sisters and community members, I was able to gain a confidence within myself that I would not have if I was not in scouting. It opened my eyes to see the diversity within my own community and understand that things like poverty are not as uncommon as I once thought. From a young age, scouting enhanced my knowledge of those around me and allowed me to be more open-minded and accepting of others. Throughout my early schooling and now college, I have always been able to be friendly and compassionate to those I encounter because of the social skills I gained through Girl Scouts. I have met numerous people of different ethnic and economic backgrounds and I often worked along side girls who were much younger than me. I served as a leader and role model for younger girls and showed them what it means to be a Girl Scout. It was a great experience being able to share my knowledge with the next generation of young women. Not only was I teaching them, but I was also learning about myself as a leader and how I could work well within a group setting. Being able to speak in front of a group and working on projects together enhanced my professional development skills. Once I begin my career, I know I will have to work with others in order to accomplish a task. The self confidence I gained over the years will greatly help me in my future.
My family has always been very supportive of me in everything that I did. My mom never pressured me to get high grades and never punished me if I came home with a low score on an exam. Usually I was the one who was worried that I didn't do well enough. If I came home from school upset because of an exam I had that day, my mom would ask me one simple question, "Did you try your best?" When I responded with a nod, she would say, "Then that's all that matters." Even if I had a breakdown after spending hours studying for an exam, she always just told me to just try my best and see what happened, because that one exam was not going to define who I was as a student. I always thought it was strange that my friends were constantly punished by their parents if they didn't do well enough in school. I could not understand it because that never happened to me before. I believe that I continue to be a good student because of the way I was raised. My friends always had extra pressure being thrown onto them from their parents, causing them to crack during an exam. If they got a score any lower than what their parents wanted, they panicked over what was going to happen when they got home. Now that I am in college, I can understand that my mom's positive advice was much more supportive than the threats that others received. I knew it in high school, but it was not until I got to college that I realized that there is much more to education than the score at the top of my paper.
Through Girl Scouts and the constant support from my mom, I have been able to graduate high school as one of the top in my class, attend college, and serve as a leader within my community. I took the skills and knowledge I learned outside of the classroom and found ways I could incorporate it into my daily life, including working in groups and educating younger generations. I chose to study wildlife and conservation biology not only because I am passionate about it, but also because I believe I can serve as a leader in environmental awareness. I have the skills to communicate with others and I have a strong support system behind me that reminds me that I can accomplish anything I dream of, as long as I try my best.
I consider myself a stereotypical Girl Scout because I went camping, sang songs around the campfire, and made hundreds of s'mores (I'd like to think I'm a s'mores expert by now). However, Girl Scouting has taught me much more than that. I learned how to be a leader within my community through service projects, education, and much more. Through helping my fellow sisters and community members, I was able to gain a confidence within myself that I would not have if I was not in scouting. It opened my eyes to see the diversity within my own community and understand that things like poverty are not as uncommon as I once thought. From a young age, scouting enhanced my knowledge of those around me and allowed me to be more open-minded and accepting of others. Throughout my early schooling and now college, I have always been able to be friendly and compassionate to those I encounter because of the social skills I gained through Girl Scouts. I have met numerous people of different ethnic and economic backgrounds and I often worked along side girls who were much younger than me. I served as a leader and role model for younger girls and showed them what it means to be a Girl Scout. It was a great experience being able to share my knowledge with the next generation of young women. Not only was I teaching them, but I was also learning about myself as a leader and how I could work well within a group setting. Being able to speak in front of a group and working on projects together enhanced my professional development skills. Once I begin my career, I know I will have to work with others in order to accomplish a task. The self confidence I gained over the years will greatly help me in my future.
My family has always been very supportive of me in everything that I did. My mom never pressured me to get high grades and never punished me if I came home with a low score on an exam. Usually I was the one who was worried that I didn't do well enough. If I came home from school upset because of an exam I had that day, my mom would ask me one simple question, "Did you try your best?" When I responded with a nod, she would say, "Then that's all that matters." Even if I had a breakdown after spending hours studying for an exam, she always just told me to just try my best and see what happened, because that one exam was not going to define who I was as a student. I always thought it was strange that my friends were constantly punished by their parents if they didn't do well enough in school. I could not understand it because that never happened to me before. I believe that I continue to be a good student because of the way I was raised. My friends always had extra pressure being thrown onto them from their parents, causing them to crack during an exam. If they got a score any lower than what their parents wanted, they panicked over what was going to happen when they got home. Now that I am in college, I can understand that my mom's positive advice was much more supportive than the threats that others received. I knew it in high school, but it was not until I got to college that I realized that there is much more to education than the score at the top of my paper.
Through Girl Scouts and the constant support from my mom, I have been able to graduate high school as one of the top in my class, attend college, and serve as a leader within my community. I took the skills and knowledge I learned outside of the classroom and found ways I could incorporate it into my daily life, including working in groups and educating younger generations. I chose to study wildlife and conservation biology not only because I am passionate about it, but also because I believe I can serve as a leader in environmental awareness. I have the skills to communicate with others and I have a strong support system behind me that reminds me that I can accomplish anything I dream of, as long as I try my best.